April Fool’s Day roundup: The best tech pranks from around the web

It’s April Fool’s Day. Again. The day when companies come up with the craziest product ideas in an effort to prank consumers. Of course most of them are so obvious that they shouldn’t even qualify as pranks anymore because we can see them coming a mile away.

The truly subtle ones are rare. But then again, no company wants to create a fake product that’s too believable, right? With that in mind, let’s see what some of the biggest names in tech, and across other industries, have planned for this year’s April Fool’s Day. There are actually a few good ones in there, and there’s even a pretty believable prank right this year, which is rare.

Google

Google Maps

Google lets you find Waldo in Google Maps. And once you’ve discovered him, you’ll get more and more games to search for him over and over again. To do so, go to Google Maps online or update your iPhone and Android apps.

The Files Go team invented the bad joke detector. For April 1st. Right…

Snapchat

Snap may have one of the best pranks of this jokes season. It targets Facebook, of course. We’re looking at a new filter that looks exactly like the Facebook app, but the text appears to be written in Russian. That checks all the right boxes.

Warby Parker and Arby’s

Smithfield

Bacon Crisps Cereal? Oh, come on.

Duolingo

You probably heard of Duolingo before, the service that lets you learn a new language supposedly faster than anything else. Well for April Fool’s, they unveiled the Brewolingo, beers to help you get more fluent. Included are the Spring Season-Owl, India Pale Owl, Mad Amber Owl, and Night Owl Stout. Each one is for a different language or situation.

Man Crates

Lucid Mattress

Get into the sharing economy with the ShareBED product. It’s like Airbnb, but creepier. Also comes in a ShareBED Lite option.

SodaStream

SodaSoak is SodaStream’s idea of an April Fool’s joke. It’s like SodaStream, but for your bathing experience. It comes with fruit flavors and support for water beds. Oh, and The Mountain is also in this clip.

Houzz

Here’s a crypto joke for you. Houzz is a site that lets you purchase home remodeling and design products. Launching a crypto coin sounds almost believable.

Peeps and Energizer

Peeps and Energizer partnered up to create energizing Peeps. You’ll get it in a minute.

Pindrop

Pindrop’s Tongueprinting is so ew. Lick your phone to lock and unlock the phone. It’s as gross as it sounds. And mildly funny. Check the video at this link.

SF AppWorks

The Nothing App. It’s the app that helps you doing nothing better. Seinfeld would probably be proud. Just check the clip below.

SkunkLock

SkunkLock has been stealing bikes to show you how easy the entire thing is.

CarGurus

If you can imitate the sound of the engine of the car you want to buy, then CarGurus REVolution is for you. Just like a reverse Shazam, if you will, but for finding cars.

Image Source: CarGurus

BlaqPaks

Bags without straps. That’s all you need to know.

iSeeCars

A company called iSeeCars made a shrine to Google. Because Google dominates search, get it?

Tech21

They usually make protective cases for smartphones. But on April 1st, they have a FlexChoc chocolate case for you.

Image Source: Tech21

Thinkgeek

Thinkgeek really overdid it this year, with a bunch of pranks for April Fool’s.

Star Trek Klingon Alphabet Magnets

4d6&Me Stat Discovery Kit

Rick and Morty Screaming Sun Alarm Clock

Jurassic World Dinosaur Detection System

Chegg

The Chegg Osmosis Pillow comes with memory foam that will not only adapt to the shape of your head, but it’ll also pack your own memory with actual knowledge. Sleep on it.